EDITORIAL: Give thanks — you live in the United States

Is the United States broken? Are we hopelessly divided by race and culture? Millions of Americans look at the violence in Ferguson, Mo., and say, “Yes.” Millions more see President Barack Obama rewriting immigration law by executive order and say, “Yes.”

Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday comes at a perfect time. Because if Americans pause to consider what life is like across much of our world, they’ll reconsider those aforementioned questions and respond with a resounding “No.”

For all our problems, the United States remains a remarkably pluralistic society that, while divided politically on many issues, is incredibly tolerant of different faiths, races and ideas. We might accuse one political party or the other — or the entire government, for that matter — of being too corrupt or having too much power, but the free, vigorous exchange of ideas remains central to our republic.

Other nations aren’t so fortunate. ISIS troops are moving across Syria and Iraq, slaughtering all who oppose them. When they’re not imposing Sharia law upon entire cities, they are kidnapping and beheading Americans and other Westerners — sharing videos of their unspeakable brutality worldwide — because the victims are from countries that dare defy ISIS.

Christians remain the object of persecution in North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia and elsewhere. Boko Haram militants have repeatedly captured girls and young women in Christian villages in Nigeria, and Christians in Pakistan are being beaten to death and burned in kilns.

The Middle East is rapidly devolving into a religious war. Just as conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip had calmed down, Israelis were subjected to terrorist attacks by Palestinians ramming vehicles into crowds of pedestrians and, last week, storming into a synagogue with knives, axes and guns to kill worshipers praying inside.

But these horrible acts of evil are only the tip of the iceberg. Unrest, violence and injustice can be found all over the globe, which is why a country like the United States is both envied and hated as much as it is. It is also why we all should be so very thankful to call this country our home.

In America, freedom trumps fear. We strive to live up to Thomas Jefferson’s declaration that “all men are created equal,” not “all men must believe as we do or else,” like some forces of evil we are confronted with might say.

Our founders believed that our creator gave all human beings the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and although we have stumbled at times during our history in extending those rights to all Americans, we have learned from our mistakes and tried to right past wrongs. Hopefully, we always will.

Yes, we still have work to do. But as much as we complain about it, this is still the greatest nation ever created by man. Are we perfect? No, but we are closer to perfect than any other country on Earth. That is truly something to be thankful for.